Home ministry doubts intel inputs on terror strike

Defence intelligence agencies were in an awkward situation on Monday after the home ministry raised doubts over its alert of a possible Mumbai-type terror strike in the country being sounded allegedly without verifying the relevant inputs.

According to sources in the home ministry, the Naval intelligence is believed to have picked up some intercept suggesting that a Mumbai-type terror strike could be carried out in four cities including Mumbai and Ahmedabad. The alert was transmitted to other agencies and reported in the media.

However, when the home ministry asked for the coordinates of the intercept from the defence sleuths for verification, sources said no message was recovered thereafter raising suspicions over the authenticity of the intercepts.

This episode in the backdrop of Union Home Minister P Chidambaram categorical assertions in his orders to intelligence agencies including that from the Defence services and para-military forces that all information about threats should be verified properly before sharing it with other intelligence agencies, a home ministry official said.

The alert from the Naval intelligence stated that Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorists might carry out another attack at Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Kolkata.

Defence Intelligence Agencies had earlier alerted about a possible attack on World Badminton Championship in Hyderabad. After an internal inquiry, it was found that the intelligence input provided by DIA was baseless.